Easy Halloween Candy Chocolate Truffles

I was curious if I could make something delicious out of leftover candy from Halloween. Sure Reese's Cups, Hershey Bars, and the like are easy. No, I wanted to see if I could make something (beyond just edible) out of the fruitcake of Halloween — candy corn. I'm pretty sure most people who buy candy corn do it because it's inexpensive and it looks pretty in a bowl sitting out, collecting dust and sticking together in one big gooey blob of fall colors.

I whipped up these easy chocolate truffles with Indian Corn, which is the redheaded stepcousin of candy corn. Instead of the yellow base (on the kernel) it's got a brown base, which is cocoa. So these taste like chocolate as opposed to the more marshmallowy traditional stuff. And as we all know, this stuff keeps seemingly forever. You could make up some of these easy chocolate truffles for your Thanksgiving get-together. No one will have any idea that the center is made from candy corn.

Notes

*Note: I used dried tart cherries, but dried cranberries would work well also. You just need a little tartness to balance out the sweet.

Ingredients

1
Cup Indian corn candy

2
Teaspoons half-and-half

1/4
Cup dried tart cherries, chopped finely*

3
Tablespoons powdered sugar, plus more for rolling

3/4
Cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Place the Indian corn in a microwave-safe glass container. Melt in the microwave by heating it for 30-second intervals and stirring in between each session.

Add the half-and-half, dried cherries, and powdered sugar to the melted candy and stir to combine. Pour (or scrape) the mixture out onto a sheet of waxed paper. Smooth it out into a uniformly thick layer and let cool to room temperature.

Using a spoon, scrape up some of the mixture. Coat your hands with powdered sugar and roll the mixture into a ball (approximately 1-inch in diameter) and lay on a plate. Continue rolling the mixture into balls. If they seem to be sticking to the plate, add more powdered sugar to your palms and reroll the balls just to lightly coat them.

Place in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes to firm up. Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave-safe glass container in the same manner as you melted the candy corn. Remove the balls from the refrigerator. Dip them into the chocolate (one at a time) and coat with chocolate.

Scrape off excess and lay out on a piece of waxed paper. Continue with the remaining balls. Let them rest until the chocolate hardens. (If you need them sooner, refrigerate them for 10 minutes.) Serve.